The Sword & Shield of Consciousness

Women and Burkas

What feelings arise when you look at the following photograph? The caption in the New York Times story about the status of women in Afghanistan says “The scene in a Kabul store selling burkas, a garment that has come to exemplify the many limitations women in Afghanistan face.”

I am particularly struck by how free the man looks — and is — versus the woman behind him, covered head to toes because of religious orthodoxy — Muslim orthodoxy, to be clear.